Latest News
19 January 2011
Prison Officers Association (POA) Press Release – PR07 17 January 2011
The Cabinet Office Scheme Management Executive are currently investigating a taxation issue with HMRC in relation to the Prison Officers Association (POA) Release PR07 17 January 2011. The claims made in the POA release are currently under review and the findings of this investigation will be provided to all relevant parties in due course.
August 2010
Changes to up-rating of public sector pensions
In his budget of 22 June 2010, the Chancellor announced that the Government is changing the up-rating that is applied to public sector pensions from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) model to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). We are waiting on HM Treasury guidance on the way this will be implemented.
Q. When will the change be made?
A. From April 2011.
Q. Why has the change been made?
A. CPI, already used by the Bank of England, is a better measure of the general level of prices for indexing pensions and benefits, helps fiscal consolidation and the sustainability of pensions.
Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC) – Q & A
Q. What’s this I hear about a review of public service pensions?
A. The Chancellor, on behalf of the Government, has set up a commission (the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission (IPSPC)) to make recommendations on how public service pensions can be made sustainable and affordable in the long-term, fair to both the public service workforce and the taxpayer, and ensure that they are consistent with the fiscal challenges ahead.
The Chancellor has asked John Hutton to Chair the IPSPC. The terms of reference for the IPSPC, which have been agreed by the Chancellor, were published on Sunday 20 June and are available online alongside a full list of schemes the Commission has been asked to consider. (The full release can be found on the HMT website)
Q. Will the IPSPC take account of stakeholders’ views in considering the issues involved?
A. The IPSPC has asked all interested groups to submit their views and comments. You can e-mail the IPSPC at pensions.commission@hmtreasury.gsi.gov.uk
Q. When will the IPSPC report on findings?
A. The IPSPC will produce an interim report in the Autumn. This should consider the case for delivering savings on public service pensions within the spending review period (i.e. the next three years). The IPSPC will consider possible options for the longer term in due course.
12 May 2010
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING TAX CODES AND PAYMENT ADVICES
Please note we are receiving an unprecedented volume of telephone calls regarding information contained in April payment advice notes. As a result if this you may find it difficult to get through to us at present.
HMRC has recently introduced the new National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS) which they are using to issue tax coding notices for the first time.
Unfortunately the transition to the new system has brought to light some discrepancies in their existing records and this is resulting in a number of incorrect Coding Notices being issued.
Although HMRC have issued replacement codes to correct the position many of these codes were not provided to us in time to be applied to April payments.
All codes received have now been applied and these will be reflected in your May pension payment and the relevant adjustments will be made to ensure the correct amount of tax is deducted.
If you believe the code we are using is incorrect, please contact HMRC on the number shown on your Notice of Coding if you have one or on
Tel: 0845 3000627.